CH 93

“Eat comfortably.”

She knew they couldn’t eat comfortably as she said it, but she wanted them to be as uncomfortable as possible. Elysia knew their struggles well, for she, too, had worked as a maid. It was a difficult working environment for them to eat properly.

“I won’t report it to Julia. Don’t worry.”

“We…”

“It’s an order. Eat. It’s because I don’t like to eat alone.”

Seeing Chloe and Rachel still hesitating at her words, Elysia let out a small sigh. Even if they were stiff, they shouldn’t be this stiff. In particular, she didn’t know that Chloe would be like this, even if she didn’t know about Rachel.

In the end, she had no choice but to say that it was an order.

“Then, thank you for your meal.”

“Thank you.”

When the two of them started to eat, hearing that it was an order, she also ate the sandwich bit by bit. She only read letters, so it was almost the first time she read a book in earnest. Even when she was being educated by Estelle, they conducted the lessons without materials, focusing on demonstrations and explanations.

“Hmm…”

Again, this book was of a high standard for her to read. Damon hadn’t noticed it before because of her momentary concentration. Although she knew what the letters were, she couldn’t make out what they meant.

Even though it’s so hard to read, she chose the three books on the history of the empire.

“Ah…”

“Are you having any problems?”

“No, no.”

Reluctantly, she closed the first book and opened the thinnest one.

Still, the thin book was more difficult to understand, and her eyes were dizzy at the extremely abbreviated historical contents. Originally, while she knew that things like history books were difficult, she never thought it would be this much.

“….”

It was disastrous. None of the three books was easy for her to read. She hadn’t ever read a book, so that was a given. She had been reading only letters for twenty years… so she wasn’t feeling too well.

It seemed to her that she would have to live with books for a while.

“I want to read comfortably by myself, is that okay?”

“What?”

Elysia didn’t think she’d be looking for another book anyway… she wanted to read comfortably. It bothered her that Chloe and Rachel were behind her.

“I don’t think there are any more books to be found here.”

“Ah… that is…”

“Or you can wait outside the door.”

She knew Damon had given them orders, so they couldn’t leave right away. He must have told them to keep an eye on Elysia.

“I want to focus.”

“Understood.”

Perhaps they couldn’t say no anymore when she said she would focus.

Seeing Chloe and Rachel quietly leaving the library, Elysia let out a long breath. She had to read the book that seemed easiest first. Were there any easy books other than history books?

At the same time, she wondered if there was such a thing as a fairy tale book. This may be the Grand Duchy’s library though the children grow up here anyway. There must be a book or two for the children to read. It was convenient to ask Chloe or Rachel to find it, but she was ashamed to ask them.

“I’m ashamed to say it…”

Even if she died, she didn’t want to say that she had to read fairy tales first. Well, they’d find out anyway… but she just wanted to avoid anything. Besides, asking them to find a fairy tale now, not earlier, was very different.

It was because no matter who saw it would know she couldn’t read books, so that was why she was asking for fairy tales.

Elysia started walking around the library, putting the sandwich into her mouth roughly. They wouldn’t have put a book up high for a child to read… It must have put them away where they can be easily reached.

“It must be somewhere here…”

Even though she glanced through the bookshelves, the books that appeared to be fairy tales were nowhere to be seen. Even in this world, there were books for children because she saw Rowena in her childhood.

“I don’t have dyslexia.”

She really only learned letters and had never used letters properly except for writing letters, but she believed so since Elysia already had an adult self since she was a child.

“…Could it be that the children of the Grand Duchy don’t read fairy tales?”

Even if it is not a fairy tale, there must be a book that is easy to read. She hadn’t read for too long, so she had to read the easy ones first.

“This is the end…”

Skimming all over the lower part of the bookshelf, still, there didn’t seem to be any easy-to-read books for her. If this place wasn’t there, she had to look at all the high places. Were the children of the Grand Duchy monsters from birth? With so much money, how could they not have a book for kids to read?

Or did she have to look all over from the bottom….

“Huh…?”

There was a bookshelf with exceptionally thin books. There weren’t many books. Only in that compartment were the spines of books with uniquely ornate designs gathered.

“Is it children’s read?”

The cover was full of bright feelings. The books here are almost monochromic. It was often brown or black. According to her recollection, all the children’s books that Rowena read had brightly colored covers. As it was for children to read, it was good to be able to draw interest from the color.

“The battle between ‘The hero who defeated the black dragon,’ ‘Evil dragon,’ and ‘The sun and the dragon’…”

There were only titles related to dragons.

Was this really a fairy tale? There wasn’t even a lot of it, at most ten books. Fortunately, there seemed to be fairy tales related to the history of the empire—darkness and sun, man of the sun—the sun here meant the Imperial Family.

The imperial seal was a large golden sun.

“Did they turn the story about the Imperial Family and the Grand Duchy into a fairy tale?”

These were the titles that made her think so. The Grand Duchy’s seal would be a black dragon, if not, why would they create these fairy tales?

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There was nothing good about instilling a sense of rejection in a child in this way. She wondered if all of these fairy tales were created by the Imperial Family. Elysia didn’t have to read the content since she could tell just by looking at the title.

All the titles seen here were talking negatively about the grand duchy. There was no force other than the Imperial Family that could do such a thing. But why was such a book kept in the Grand Duchy?

It was so strange.

“Shall I read one book?”

The thing she was most curious about was, of course, ‘The hero who defeated the black dragon.’ It was known from the beginning of the empire when the first Emperor defeated the evil black dragon and established a new country.

Of course, since this was an old story, there may be some lies.

Humans weren’t supposed to be able to hunt dragons in the first place? In addition, dragons usually didn’t appear in the human world. No matter how old it was, it sound like bluffing.

“‘The hero who defeated the black dragon’.”

A picture was drawn on the yellow cover. It was definitely a book for children to read. All the books she had seen so far had only words engraved on them. However, in this book, the shadow appeared to be a warrior holding a sword.

It seemed that the printing skills were not good, so they couldn’t engrave it in color. However, the brilliantly shining sun drawn on the upper right stood out more than anything else.

Unknowingly, her eyes were furrowed at the book, whose intentions were so transparent.

“Why are they putting a book like this in the grand duchy’s library?”

For now, Elysia took out the children’s books and started moving them. She wouldn’t be able to read it in one day anyway… She planned to read it in the outer castle while the construction of the main castle was being carried out.

“Ah, even children’s books are quite heavy.”

What she thought were ten books were about seven in all.

Elysia grunted as hard as she could and moved all the books to the table. Had she not found them all yet, or was this the only fairy tale book in this library? It was a remarkably small amount compared to the size of the library, which was so grand.

Could it be that the Grand Duke made them read difficult books from an early age?

“I want to read only one book.”

Still, according to her memories of peeking at Rowena’s children’s book, it was not as good as modern children’s books, but it was interesting in its own way. There were no fancy pictures, but she remembered a simple summary with an appropriate picture.

The first thing she picked up was, of course, ‘The hero who defeated the black dragon.’

Just looking at the title, it seemed to be most closely related to the history of the empire. It seemed that someone had read this book several times, it looked like it had been burned a lot, and the edges of the pages were frayed.

“I wonder if Damon read it, too…”

It was strange to imagine that the young Damon had read this book.

Young Damon… It was something that made absolutely no sense. It felt like he was always the same. Damon, in his weak form, was unimaginable. In fact, Elysia was surprised that he had been bullied by his brothers.

From the time he was born, he seemed to have dominated others though it came as a great shock to her when he did not.

⌊ A ferocious black dragon ruled the world. ⌉

From the first page, there were straightforward and simple expressions that were easy for children to understand. Accompanying it was a picture of a black dragon baring its claws.

⌊ The day has disappeared, and the world has become a world full of darkness. ⌉

A world of darkness.

It seemed that they were talking about the Grand Duchy, who were all black. Elysia turned the pages page by page.

For a children’s story book, the content of the book was somewhat cruel.

⌊ Blood instead of rain fell from the blood-stained sky. There was no hope in this world. ⌉

It gave her goosebumps just thinking about a world dripping with blood.

Elysia unknowingly rubbed the goosebumps. The thought of blood was frightening to her. It was a fairy tale where blood, carnage, and all sorts of cruelty appeared.

⌊ Then, a man appeared.

A man with dark blond hair, shining like the sun. ⌉